A Victorian silver Garibaldi rowing prize arms badge

A Victorian silver Garibaldi rowing prize arms badge,

by P. Firmin and Son, London 1864,

oval form, foliate ribbon and reed border, applied with a portrait bust of Giuseppe Garibaldi and dated '1864' also applied 'GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI GUERRA D'ITALIA 1859, TO COMMEMORATE HIS ENTRY INTO LONDON, APRIL 11TH.', on a matted background, with a cartouche inscribed 'Won by RATCLIFFE-PICK, Oct.er 18th. 1864', the reverse with three ring attachments, length 18.4 cm, approx. weight 6.9oz.

Provenance: The James Walker Collection, Christie's South Kensington, 13th July 2006, lot 233.

This badge was originally one part of a 4-part prize (coat, badge, cash and Freedom of the Thames), in the sculling race at the City, Southwark and Lambeth Apprentices Regatta held on 18/10/1864. There were five entries for the event; Ratcliffe-Pick of Thames Bank beat C. Parker of Westminster by 3½ lengths in the final with two of the other entrants not completing the race. This was an annual meeting to commemorate Garibaldi's arrival in London where, on the 11th November 1864, the Illustrated London News records he was greeted by a crowd of 500,000 people. The next day he was given the honorary Freedom of the City.

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was one of the heroes of the struggle for the unification of Italy. Active in the 1848 uprising and an elected deputy in the Roman Assembly, he proclaimed Victor Emanuel king of a united Italy in 1860, at that time holding the rank of general in the Piedmontese army, but it would not be until 1870 that he would see his old adversary, Pope Pius IX, defeated and Rome liberated to become capital of a unified country. London apparently shut down for three days when he visited the city in 1864, already feted for his exploits four years earlier when with his 1,000 volunteers, he had landed in Sicily, intent on marching on Rome to liberate it from the reactionary Papacy.